User blog:Asarane/Chapter 4: Gone
'Gone' “Well?” Deyall asked. “Now what?” They were out on a plain, rain pouring down. Not just any plain, the biggest plain in Narduradin. The Plains of Nagoroth. Huge. ' '“I can’t send Nagathrean up in this.” Alex said, calmly. “But I will as soon as this rain stops. Meanwhile, focus on finding somewhere to keep our bags. They’re wet enough as it is.” “You don’t know where we are, do you?” “Actually, I do. Only a fool could get themselves lost around here. We are just North-West of Skaroth.” “Yeah, only a fool could get themselves lost on this plain that stretches on and on in all directions, and looks the same wherever you are on it.” “It does not! You just have to get your bearings. Let’s search around for a hole, or something.” They looked around, but all they found was the same yellow grass. No dry place to sleep, or to put their bags. Alex looked up from his searching. “There is one place.” He said, hesitantly. Deyall looked up expectantly. “The Faro Wood.” Alex said, quietly. Deyall had never been to the Faro Woods, but he had heard stories. Terrible stories. “Why don’t we just go to Skaroth. We can blend in, right?” “Look, I know the stories. Whosoever enters the Woods, shall never return, blah, blah, blah. So what? We are out in the rain for adventure, not to cower under merchant skirts.” Nagathrean had distanced himself from their conversation until then. He spoke to them both. I believe Alex may be right. He said, with obvious reluctance in his voice. ''Even if you could go unnoticed in a town like Skaroth, I couldn’t.'' “I’m sorry, Nagathrean, I had almost forgotten you.” Deyall said, color rushing to his face. Alex laughed. “I could never forget him! He’s bigger than most horses!” Deyall rolled his eyes, and broke into a fit of laughter. “Well, you know me, so very forgetful…” “That much is clear.” Alex said with a grin. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” Deyall realized he was not going to change the subject. It seems like he can get me to do whatever he wants! It is hard to resist him, that much is sure.'' Nagathrean muttered to him. ''We might as well do what he says right now, for he won’t stop until we go. I guess you’re right''. Deyall groaned.”Let’s go.” He said, outloud.' '“Great.” Alex began walking toward the line of trees. It was a ways off, they would get there by tomorrow morning. Sleeping just one night in the rain didn’t sound very fun… Deyall marched up beside him, trying to shrug off the tales as silly stories people told children, so that they wouldn’t run away into the forest. The closer he got, however, the more he didn’t want to go forward, but something about the forest seemed, familiar. He wanted to run away, but he also wanted to go closer. Something drew him. Something powerful. He tried to get the Woods off his mind. Thinking of all the work he would be doing today, if he hadn’t run off. Right about now he would be on ‘free’ time, which was the very short moment between work he was given. In fact, it was so small that he could barely get to the site of his next job in time. He figured this was how the Whipmasters had their fun. Other than beating innocent people, of course. Right about now, he would be using his ‘free’ time to get to the Dragons barns, to clean them out, which was a rather disgusting jobs because of the animal parts scattered around, and add new hay and stuff. He remembered he would play games with James when they had to clean the barn. They pretended that the barn was full of poisonous gas, and the Whipmasters were trying to trick them into dying in it. Silly games, of course, but still. Maybe I should try to think of something lighter… He walked mechanically by Alex’s side as he thought. All he could think of, was beatings, and James. He realized he didn’t really like James as a brother as he thought he did. He thought through everyone he had ever known, and realized he didn’t love anyone. He didn’t even miss anyone! I’m a heartless, selfish, beast. He said to himself. Alex suddenly looked at him. “Whyever would you say that?”''' “Say what?” Deyall asked, confused. “That you’re a beast and whatnot?” “I didn’t say that.” “Yeah, right. Then who did?” “I don’t know! Maybe you did! I didn’t hear anything!” Deyall said, bewildered. Does he hear thoughts??? He thought, suddenly. He quickly stopped thinking. Or tried at least… “I most certainly do not!” Alex said, quickly. '''He most certainly does too. Deyall thought. ''This is spooky. I’m not safe within my mind! “You are not in your mind! Quit messing around!” Alex said. Before he stopped speaking, however, his face changed. Nagathrean was talking to him. For sure. This thought was confirmed when Alex spoke. “You really think so? This could be really useful! If I really can…” The last part was doubtful. “Okay, I guess it’s worth a try.” Alex looked over at Deyall. Deyall shifted uncomfortably. “Could you think something. Please?” “Think something?” Deyall asked. “Why should I do that?” “Nagathrean knows many things, and he says that I might be a- a psychopath?” Here he glanced at Nagathrean. “Oh, wait no. A psychic?” Nagathrean nodded. ' '“Oh well, in that case I’ll just let you read my mind because that makes sense!” Deyall said, thoroughly scared.'' What if he really can read minds?'' “Well, I guess I can. Now I’m officially a psychopath!” “Psychic.” Deyall said. “Right. I knew that. I was just messing around.” Of course you were…'' Deyall thought, then looked at Alex. ''Great he heard that. I just know he did. “Of course I did! Now nothing will go behind the back of me, the great psychopath!” Deyall didn’t correct him. The Wanderer walked through the woods quietly. Even the animals didn’t look up at her passing. She had gotten up early that morning, determined to make herself the part. She didn’t know exactly what she was up to, but she wanted to see the Plains. She had just started walking toward the edge of the woods. She wasn’t going to leave the Forest, just look out on the fields. She never wanted to leave the Woods again. It was a terrible world out there. Or at least, that is what Madam Garzolous told her, and she believed her. She believed everything Madam Garzolous told her. Something about her that was, believable. She heard water, and turned from her original destination and moved towards it. A water source that was closer to her home would be good. She usually had to walk half a mile before she reached the pool she got water from. This was only just out of sight of her home. Her ‘home’ was really a tree with logs placed across a few branches, making a platform about twenty feet above the ground. Safe enough. The leaves above stopped the rain. Ah, the river is in sight now. She thought, then decided it was more of a stream. There was something she struggled to remember about streams and rivers. Something with importance. She dismissed this. It couldn’t be that important. She walked up to the stream. Rocks lined the bed. Tiny pebbles. Just downstream of her, the river took a sharp bend and headed straight away from her home. No wonder she hadn’t found it before. The pebbles were all kinds of colors. Blue, red, black, silver, even some green. These colored stones had trails of color streaming down with the current. It gave the stream an almost creepy look. And also the look of a rainbow. In fact, it looked like the reflection of a rainbow. She looked up to look around, but there was no rainbow. Funny, I have never seen rocks do that before. She thought, a little confused. She crouched by the water, and flashed her hand in, coming up with one of the black rocks. As she held it, it slowly dissolved into a black sludge on her hand. It had the consistency of tree sap. “Ah, I see you have found the enchanted stream.” Madam Garzolous’s voice said from behind her. “Careful, wherever that rock touches you, it will stay forever. You will never be able to get it off.” The Wanderer quickly washed her hand in the stream, but her hand was entirely black even when she scrubbed at it for several minutes. “Couldn’t you at least warn me about these things? Now look at my hand! It had to be my right hand too.” She grumbled. “Well, I never thought that you would find it. Don’t worry so much, your weapons will hide the stain. People who found it before used it to camouflage their clothes, so that seeing them would be more difficult.” “Yeah, yeah, I have one question, what weapons?!” “Oh, right, I had forgotten. Forgive me, child.” Here Madam Garzolous seemingly pulled two daggers out of thin air. “Here, take these. They are yet unnamed, so I ask you to grant them names.” The Wanderer took the blades slowly. They were beautiful, if you can call an item made for killing that. Carving in the shape of dragons, without riders. Just flying free. Whoever made the blades was so good you could see personality in the eyes of the dragons. And joy. She vaguely remembered seeing dragons, but joy and personality? That was never a part of them. Compared to these dragons, they looked like beaten dogs. She had an idea. She reached into the river, with her right hand of course, and grabbed another black rock. This she smeared in specific places on the blades. Then she dipped her hand in again, and grabbed a green rock. She put this also on the blades in the spots there was no black. She then threw the daggers into the forest. This, she soon discovered, was not quite a good idea. She glanced up to ask Madam Garzolous if she saw where they were, but the Madam Garzolous was not there. She sighed, and spent the rest of the day cursing her handiwork. “Do you think she will do?” Faadrul asked “I do not know.” Garzolous replied. All the Spirits agreed that the wisest among them was Rehall, the Water Spirit, but no one could ever find her. She had not been seen since the Overthrowing, and they feared she had not made it. Therefore, the Spirits listened to Garzolous, the Spirit of Life. Faadrul was the Spirit of Fire, and he thought that they should just go back to where they had come from. Never returning to this place. Garzolous was of a different mind. They watched the girl casting about in the leaves, frustrated beyond belief. ' '“This can’t be good.” Faadrul said “Just look at her. She can’t even find her own daggers!” “She is better than those random misfits you and Hrsdil picked up.” Hrsdil was the Spirit of Sun “Well, you didn’t find any!” “Didn’t I? That girl right there is who I found. I say she will do. This matter is closed. Let us go meet with the others” Faadrul rolled his eyes, and followed Garzolous to Marcos glade. Gabriella woke slowly. They were no longer in the cart, that much was for certain. She lay in silence for what seemed an eternity. Finally she heard voices. Reaching out with her mind, she learned that her new ‘master’ was nowhere near, so the voices were most likely slaves. The voices were getting closer. She eventually raised her head. She was alone. Zorgoth must have been moved elsewhere. She felt herself panic slightly. What if he died? She asked herself, terrified. Oh, be quiet. Of course he is okay. She still wasn’t quite sure, but she calmed down anyway. The voices began to slowly fade away, much to her relief. She noted that, unlike in the wagon, there was nothing to block the sunlight. Most likely because Zorgoth wasn’t here. The walls were stone. From looking around, she figured she was most likely in a prison cell. She just hoped it was in one of the fortresses and not the castle. Light came from a window that was as close to the ceiling as it seemed possible. There were bars across it. Probably because humans were often put in cells like these. Why else would there be bars? Almost any type of dragon could destroy them. None of the dragons could destroy the enchanted stone of the prisons, though, so it was safe to put them there. Unless it was lit by sunlight and the dragon in the cell just so happened to be a Golden dragon. The walls were unbroken except for the one window, and the door. It was pretty big. Big enough to fit a dragon ten times her size. And the cell was big enough for a dragon that size to move around in with ease. Yay, we get to wait for our demise in comfort. All we need now, is a bed. Oh wait, she thought, accidently stepping in a spot on the floor that slowly sank, molding itself to her. We already have one. She sighed and threw herself down on the floor. It sank slowly. It was like lying on a cloud. Well, if anyone had actually lain on a cloud they might say otherwise, but she wasn’t going into specifics right now. She coiled her head around so it was lying under her right wing, shifted onto her left side, curled her legs up close to herself, and fell asleep. Hoping that her mate would be fine. Nagathrean found it was hard to keep anything from Deyall. The boy asked so many questions. And it wasn’t hard to tell that he knew Alex was a pseudonym. They had been walking for the forest for two days now, and it seemed they would still only get there by evening. By scouting around, Nagathrean had learned that a few human figures were flitting around in there. He hadn’t told Vol- Alex or Deyall. After hundreds of years of experience, he knew it would not go well. The humans would be terrified or something, and nothing would get done. The Spirits had told him to do something and he would do it. Whatever the cost. Deyall was sure this wasn’t a good place to be. Now they had people after them because he had yelled when that snake appeared. It hadn’t even been venomous and he had screamed like a girl! Something was coiling him like a spring. He just didn’t know what. Unless it was the trees looming ever closer. Actually, yeah, that made perfect sense. But it wasn’t just that. Something was going on. Something important, and he thought Nagathrean knew about it. Every day Nagathrean got more and more nervous, and Deyall was sure it had to do with the same thing that was bothering him. Or perhaps it could be the fact that they were now running at top speed trying to reach said trees because Nagathrean can only carry one, and they were being chased by a score of men. He was glad that they were so confident that they could catch them, because otherwise they would call the dragons. Then there would be no chance. Right now there wasn’t much of one anyway. Alex seemed to be slipping away. His eyes were almost glazed and he seemed to move more and more sluggishly. Deyall couldn’t, for the life of him, understand why, but he knew that it wouldn’t be long before they were caught if Alex keep this up. He grabbed his shoulder. “Now’s the time to stop acting hero and jump on the dang fox thing.” “I can’t leave you on the ground, you might get caught.” “I’ll get caught if you keep slowing me down!” Nagathrean cut in. ''' '''Deyall is right, V- Alex, you are just slowing him down. “But-” No arguments. You know you are required to survive. Alex said nothing. Nagathrean slowed until they were running side by side. Deyall quickly shoved Alex onto the giant fox. ''' '''Be safe. Nagathrean said, and flew away. Deyall ran. He ran as he never had before. But he soon learned it wouldn’t be enough. He tried desperately to keep his mind calm, so that Nagathrean and Alex wouldn’t turn back for him. He glanced back to see two dragons fly in. A Purple and a Blue. Lightning from the Purple and Ice from the Blue. Great. Maybe if I let them catch me, they will be distracted long enough to let Alex and Nagathrean escape. He thought, knowing that if he was caught, he would be killed. Because he was a runaway. He didn’t really try to run away, he just tried to die. Guess that was what I chose my fate to be a while ago. Will this be any different from drowning? With this thought, he dropped on the ground. Deyall, what do you think you’re doing? Nagathrean’s voice asked, with a hint of ‘are you an idiot?’ Carrying out a decision I made before, but never carried out. Deyall, the Chosen One commands you to get up and run. Very funny, are you best friends with the Spirits too? I doubt it. Deyall snarled. He felt hands on him. A rope was tied cruelly around him. He looked up to see Nagathrean in the edge of the woods, staring at him. The two dragons sat outside the woods. Glaring at the two escapees. Alex seemed like the last little bit of light he had in him had left. He was lying on Nagathrean’s back, unmoving. Your welcome. He said to Nagathrean, with a sad smile, and darkness fell. Category:Blog posts